Before taking SPCM 420, I was not aware of the country’s current attitude towards politics. I knew that there was a large amount of civic disengagement, but had no idea to what extent and could not clarify the reason for this. Now, it is clear to me that people feel as if they cannot control or impact the political system, and therefore disengage themselves from it. I think that this is because politics, as Hollihan stated in his book Uncivil Wars, has become such a horse-race. Although there are many different political parties, it only comes down to two; the others are silenced or ruled out by the media. Because of this ineffective structure, where people literally have to choose a “side,” and feel that there is disconnect between the values politicians portray and their actual campaigns, I am proposing that changing voting from candidate based to issue based would be more effective, and help civic engagement on a interpersonal, public, and cultural level.
Our culture is changing every day, and so are the political parties. Less than 150 years ago, it was the Republican Party that supported federal creation of programs that supported the poor, and now it has completed switched. Because of the varying culture in our society, and the “fads” people feel they must follow, politics have been turned into a joke, seemingly anyway. It is always about the candidate, bad or good, and who is endorsing them. The media makes their money off of highlighting certain candidates, and the more a candidate is highlighted in the lime light, the more votes and support said candidate will obtain. With money being the driving source of the media, which directs our culture, how can we trust it to fairly influence us? Changing the voting system to issue based voting will eliminate the fads of following certain candidates. It will eliminate people from voting blindly as well. On an interpersonal level, this will solve a lot of the problems that discussing politics currently proposes. For one reason or another, politics is an uncomfortable topic, and this is partially because people do not know how to listen to each other and understand that everyone has a different background and therefore has a reason to believe what they believe. Accepting that we feel differently about issues is much easier than accepting that we believe a completely opposite ideological viewpoint, where being a Republican or Democrat leaves us. There is no negative stigma from one side to another with issue based voting, because there is not just black and white, there are a lot of different considerations for each issue and one from EACH party, not just Republicans and Democrats, should be placed on the ballot. On a public level, this will increase political and civic engagement. If a person wants to vote for a certain candidate, they actually have to educate themselves on the issues and stances of that particular candidate in order to choose those while voting. Through this process, the candidate may find that they don’t actually want to vote for this particular candidate after all. I am curious – if we voted on issues as a country, who would be the current president? Would I have been a McCain supporter? Would Democrat and Republican parties even be the most imminent parties? Even those who are in the Independent, Green, Libertarian, or other parties usually don’t vote in that way because they know it will go unnoticed, so they settle for a candidate of the Republican or Democratic Party.
Because issue based voting would require the public to have a large knowledge base of the issues and current policies, courses should be implemented and required in the public school systems starting freshman year of high school. These kids need to know what is currently happening in their country, so they are informed voters upon graduation. Many young adults do not vote because they do not know what is at stake or what changes will be made, and don’t want to affect the system either way, and this should change. This early education of specific current policies and intentions of candidates on the basis of issues could drastically increase civic engagement. On a societal level, it would greatly improve the way society perceives politics. Right now, it seems to be about money, and one of the two popular parties winning. If it were issue based, the media would be forced to focus on all of the different issues at hand, and therefore involving and education the public. Yes, maybe it is less entertaining, but there should be not entertainment factors in our political system, it is a serious matter not considered or contributed to by enough of our citizens. This would greatly deplete the dominance of just two parties, which are in tradition more popular and with no end in sight of the current system; people are conforming to one or the other. Not only would it inform the public, but it would end the negative stigma much of society has about politicians. Instead of trying to uplift their image and values, they would have to clearly state their objectives, policies, and what they want to change about every current issue. With such a particular demand to issue attentiveness, they would have to be precise and concise, making it easy for the public and society to understand. With this, society can make a better choice altogether of what fits it, without conforming to boundaries that are only partially acceptable. As discussed in the political rhetoric and religion group on Tuesday, people are uninformed and make political decisions accordingly. Religion does not have a place in politics, although politicians use it to verify their character. This proves to be a difficult problem to solve if issue based politics is not implemented.
A large problem is that the problem between politics and society is a cycle. The more campaigning issues there are, the more press coverage there is, and the more people are interested in politics (and for the wrong reasons). The less interesting and controversial the campaigns are, the less interested the people are. Then, society is frustrated with the lack of legitimacy in campaigning and the media, when all along this illegitimacy is how the media is getting their elevated ratings. To end all of the nonsense about politicians, we need a different way to go about voting and highlighting issues. The answer is to simply cover the issue, and not the candidates alone. It will take the focus off of personal attacks, popularity contests, endorsements, and will hopefully end the cycle of whichever candidate has the most money will likely win the election. The American people will then be educated on each stance on every issue, something the media has not done very well in the past. With knowledge of each stance of each issue, a voter can really decide what is best for their situation, and the country as a whole will not have to decide solely between two people. If people feel as if they will have more of an impact, than they will become more involved. The responsibility of civic engagement lies in the voter as well as the media and politicians, and engaging them in a different way, a way that is completely different from the current system, is what would be the best way to increase civic engagement.
Before taking SPCM 420, I was not aware of the country’s current attitude towards politics. I knew that there was a large amount of civic disengagement, but had no idea to what extent and could not clarify the reason for this. Now, it is clear to me that people feel as if they cannot control or impact the political system, and therefore disengage themselves from it. I think that this is because politics, as Hollihan stated in his book Uncivil Wars, has become such a horse-race. Although there are many different political parties, it only comes down to two; the others are silenced or ruled out by the media. Because of this ineffective structure, where people literally have to choose a “side,” and feel that there is disconnect between the values politicians portray and their actual campaigns, I am proposing that changing voting from candidate based to issue based would be more effective, and help civic engagement on a interpersonal, public, and cultural level.
ReplyDeleteOur culture is changing every day, and so are the political parties. Less than 150 years ago, it was the Republican Party that supported federal creation of programs that supported the poor, and now it has completed switched. Because of the varying culture in our society, and the “fads” people feel they must follow, politics have been turned into a joke, seemingly anyway. It is always about the candidate, bad or good, and who is endorsing them. The media makes their money off of highlighting certain candidates, and the more a candidate is highlighted in the lime light, the more votes and support said candidate will obtain. With money being the driving source of the media, which directs our culture, how can we trust it to fairly influence us? Changing the voting system to issue based voting will eliminate the fads of following certain candidates. It will eliminate people from voting blindly as well.
ReplyDeleteOn an interpersonal level, this will solve a lot of the problems that discussing politics currently proposes. For one reason or another, politics is an uncomfortable topic, and this is partially because people do not know how to listen to each other and understand that everyone has a different background and therefore has a reason to believe what they believe. Accepting that we feel differently about issues is much easier than accepting that we believe a completely opposite ideological viewpoint, where being a Republican or Democrat leaves us. There is no negative stigma from one side to another with issue based voting, because there is not just black and white, there are a lot of different considerations for each issue and one from EACH party, not just Republicans and Democrats, should be placed on the ballot.
On a public level, this will increase political and civic engagement. If a person wants to vote for a certain candidate, they actually have to educate themselves on the issues and stances of that particular candidate in order to choose those while voting. Through this process, the candidate may find that they don’t actually want to vote for this particular candidate after all. I am curious – if we voted on issues as a country, who would be the current president? Would I have been a McCain supporter? Would Democrat and Republican parties even be the most imminent parties? Even those who are in the Independent, Green, Libertarian, or other parties usually don’t vote in that way because they know it will go unnoticed, so they settle for a candidate of the Republican or Democratic Party.
Because issue based voting would require the public to have a large knowledge base of the issues and current policies, courses should be implemented and required in the public school systems starting freshman year of high school. These kids need to know what is currently happening in their country, so they are informed voters upon graduation. Many young adults do not vote because they do not know what is at stake or what changes will be made, and don’t want to affect the system either way, and this should change. This early education of specific current policies and intentions of candidates on the basis of issues could drastically increase civic engagement.
ReplyDeleteOn a societal level, it would greatly improve the way society perceives politics. Right now, it seems to be about money, and one of the two popular parties winning. If it were issue based, the media would be forced to focus on all of the different issues at hand, and therefore involving and education the public. Yes, maybe it is less entertaining, but there should be not entertainment factors in our political system, it is a serious matter not considered or contributed to by enough of our citizens. This would greatly deplete the dominance of just two parties, which are in tradition more popular and with no end in sight of the current system; people are conforming to one or the other.
Not only would it inform the public, but it would end the negative stigma much of society has about politicians. Instead of trying to uplift their image and values, they would have to clearly state their objectives, policies, and what they want to change about every current issue. With such a particular demand to issue attentiveness, they would have to be precise and concise, making it easy for the public and society to understand. With this, society can make a better choice altogether of what fits it, without conforming to boundaries that are only partially acceptable. As discussed in the political rhetoric and religion group on Tuesday, people are uninformed and make political decisions accordingly. Religion does not have a place in politics, although politicians use it to verify their character. This proves to be a difficult problem to solve if issue based politics is not implemented.
A large problem is that the problem between politics and society is a cycle. The more campaigning issues there are, the more press coverage there is, and the more people are interested in politics (and for the wrong reasons). The less interesting and controversial the campaigns are, the less interested the people are. Then, society is frustrated with the lack of legitimacy in campaigning and the media, when all along this illegitimacy is how the media is getting their elevated ratings. To end all of the nonsense about politicians, we need a different way to go about voting and highlighting issues. The answer is to simply cover the issue, and not the candidates alone. It will take the focus off of personal attacks, popularity contests, endorsements, and will hopefully end the cycle of whichever candidate has the most money will likely win the election. The American people will then be educated on each stance on every issue, something the media has not done very well in the past. With knowledge of each stance of each issue, a voter can really decide what is best for their situation, and the country as a whole will not have to decide solely between two people. If people feel as if they will have more of an impact, than they will become more involved. The responsibility of civic engagement lies in the voter as well as the media and politicians, and engaging them in a different way, a way that is completely different from the current system, is what would be the best way to increase civic engagement.
ReplyDeleteI had to post my blog as comments because my computer literally would not let me paste my word document characters into my blog. lol
ReplyDelete